AU Looks to Boost Vaccine Manufacturing Capabilities

Apr 17 , 2021


The African Union (AU) Commission signaled its intent to see the continent's capacity to manufacture vaccines against the COVID-19, signing a memorandum of understanding with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) last week. Currently, only two percent of vaccine trials take place in Africa. The partnership aims to strengthen ties between the two organisations and the Africa CDC - a specialised institution in the continent responsible for preventing and controlling diseases in Africa. The AU wants CDC Africa to enhance research and development in vaccine manufacturing, and strengthen pandemic preparedness on the continent. In early 2020, Ethiopia became the first African country to join CEPI, which was first established at Davos in 2017 to develop vaccines against future epidemics.


Radar

Coffee Exports Bring in $1.5B in Third Quarter

Ethiopia has earned 1.5 billion dollars from coffee exports over the nine months of the fiscal year. The country had set a target to earn a little over a billion dollars by exporting 201,959tns of coffee during the same period. According to Adugna Debella (PhD), director general of the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authority, the export strategy continues to focus on major international markets, with the top 10 destinations, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, and the United States (SU), accounting...


Radar

Central Bank Holds Fourth Exchange Auction

The National Bank of Ethiopia(NBE) sold one dollar for 131.4961 birr in its recent auction. It was reported that 26 banks participated in this auction, which took place last week on Thursday. In a statement issued by the National Bank  following the auction, it was indicated that 70 million dollars was offered for the event. Subsequently, it was reported that 96 pc of the foreign exchange needs of the participating banks were met. In the previous auction, held 15 days ago, the bank had of...


Radar

City Registers 64,075 Births in Fiscal Year

The city has exceeded its birth registration target for the first nine months of the fiscal year, registering 64,075 children—71.15pc more than the set goal of 58,342. This success, with a registration coverage rate of 109.63pc, is largely attributed to the efficiency of the one-centre birth registration service system, which has been rolled out across health centres and courts. The total number of vital events registered, including births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths, reache...